Oscar Piastri’s difficult start to the season continued at the Miami Grand Prix on Monday morning (AEST).
As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen etched his name into the Formula 1 record books with a dominant win, it was at the other end of the grid where things fell apart for McLaren.
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The young Australian star was always going to be behind the eight-ball after starting from 19th place on the grid.
But it qwas a gamble with the tyres from McLaren that left both drivers stranded.
A usual tactic for back of the grid runners is to throw on the harder compound and go as long as possible, however McLaren attempted to buck that trend.
In a bid to gain early places the team opted to put both drivers on soft tyres, a bold strategy that backfired.
Piastri made up five places in the opening two laps but the tyres fell apart and his early work came undone.
Seven laps into the race and both drivers had to enter the pits to then have hards put on as they fell to the back of the grid.
Piastri’s day then went from bad to downright horrific as his brake pedal began to play up with a mechanical issue.
“He’s having a bit of a miserable race. He does have brakes but he has a long brake issue and he’s dropping further behind his teammate,” Ted Kravitz said on Sky Sports.
The brake issue saw Piastri’s race pace fall through the floor as he sat second last in the race, only ahead of Williams’ Logan Sargeant who was forced into the pits in the opening stages of the race to have his front wing replaced.
McLaren teammate Lando Norris didn’t enjoy any greater success as he crossed the line in 17th spot despite not reporting any mechanical issues.
The Brit simply couldn’t catch Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in front as he drove home in what was a lonely and soul-crushing day for the Woking-based outfit.
“Weekend to forget for McLaren, finishing 17th and 19th after a lot of difficulties in qualifying. A lot of work to do there,” Martin Brundle said on Sky Sports.
David Croft added: “Just when they think things are starting to go well they come here to a country where they’ve won 12 times in the past and they are very much outpaced and outclassed.”
Piastri hasn’t enjoyed the start he would have been hoping for to get his Formula 1 career off and running.
Things went his way in front of his home crowd at the Australian Grand Prix after registering an eighth place finished.
That’s as good as it’s been however for Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement as he’s struggled to keep touch with the points.
In the season opener at Bahrain he failed to finish, in the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia it was a lowly 15th and then the fourth race of the season in Azerbaijan he was once again outside the points in 11th.
McLaren will look to bounce back and add to their lowly points tally when the Formula 1 grid head to Imola for the next race on Sunday, May 21 at 11pm (AEST).
